SpaceX Limited Series in the Works at HBO

Channing Tatum is teaming up with HBO to develop a limited series that will take viewers behind the scenes at Elon Musk's SpaceX private rocket company. The six-episode series will track the story of Musk and his hand-picked engineers as they developed their Falcon 9 rocket on a remote Pacific island. The script is based on the book Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance.

The new series will be produced by Tatum's Free Association, with Tatum, Reid Carolin, and Peyer Kiernan as executive producers reports Deadline. Vance will also serve as an executive producer with former HBO Films, Miniseries & Cinemax President Len Amato. The script will be written by Doug Jung, who worked on Star Trek Beyond and Mindhunter.

In late May, SpaceX became the first private company to send NASA astronauts to the International Space Station. Astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken spent two months aboard the station before returning safely to Earth on Aug. 2. The flight used a Falcon 9 rocket, with the astronauts aboard a Crew Dragon capsule. The next SpaceX Crew-1 manned mission was scheduled for Oct. 31, but NASA announced the flight was postponed until early to mid-November. NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, and Shannon Walker and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) mission specialist Soichi Noguchi will be aboard the flight.

HBO's untitled SpaceX series could follow in the footsteps of the network's long history of successful miniseries. This year, Watchmen won 11 Emmys, including Outstanding Limited Series and Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie for Regina King's performance. In the previous year, HBO's Chernobyl won Outstanding Limited Series and 14 other Emmys. Other recent HBO shows to win the Outstanding Limited Series Emmy include Big Little Lies (Season 1), Olive Kitteridge, Behind the Candelabra, and Game Change.

Although Tatum is best known for his work in front of the screen, he has been busy expanding his resume to include producing credits. He is an executive producer on the upcoming historical comedy America: The Motion Picture, in which he voices George Washington. Tatum is also producing Wingmen, a long-gestating musical comedy co-starring and directed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Musk was back in the news last week when SpaceX agreed to work with the U.S. military to develop a rocket that could deliver 80 metric tons of cargo anywhere on the planet in 60 minutes. For example, a rocket could deliver cargo from Florida to Afghanistan within an hour, traveling at 7,500 mph. Gen. Stephen Lyons, the head of US Transportation Command, announced the deal during a virtual conference on Wednesday, reports Business Insider. The first tests will start in 2021.